One Step Forward
by user62901
Summary: A Package Rainbow Dash has ordered arrives. Its her own Wonderbolts costume with a twist of Dash added in.   i modified chapter two a bit to make it read better and have better timing. hope you like.   Read and review please.
1. It Arrives

Hasbro owns MLP:FIM, I do not.

this is a work of fiction, and has no association with any Hasbro properties.

"Here we go," shouted Rainbow Dash. She flapped her wings up and down. Rainbow pushed off gently at first to gain altitude. Once satisfied she could now go as hard as she could make them move! The Pegasus moved forward at an incredible speed, a speed Dash craved. The ground below her became a blur. The clouds in the sky mixed in with the blue background. Everything from her view was a mash of greens, browns, blues, and whites. This was heaven. When she was in the zone she could shut off the outside world. Sound leveled out as a low hum of wind through her mane. Colors mixed together in a kaleidoscope. No one could touch her. This was freedom.

"Yeeeeeah!" Dash thrust her hoof in front of her. It didn't make her go faster anywhere but in her mind. "This is awesome!"

Her jetwash, fittingly a rainbow ribbon, would be her only trace in the sky. Well that and her joyous screaming at every new turn or loop she maneuvered into. Dash was built for flying. She'd rarely admit to it but she would sometimes just cruise without trying new stunts, perfecting old ones, or trying to push the envelope of what her body could do physically. A gentle pace for her to clear her mind was sometimes what the doctor ordered. But today she craved speed only a pegasus like her could achieve.

The hard turns going back and forth were really just a warmup for her before she began her newest experimental trick. This would be the trick that got her into the Wonderbolts for sure.

"Alright, time to pony up or shut up!" She made a 90 degree incline and leveled off hundreds of feet from the ground. From here it was a direct trip back down flapping her wings as hard as she could trying to pick up enough speed to create the sonic rainboom barrier. She'd need that particular white barrier for her next turn. However the ground came up too fast and Dash was forced out of her nosedive. The Pegasus leveled out and skidded to a halt just above the tree line.

"Dang it, thought I had it that time." Rainbow flustered to herself. She'd have to set it up again. And again. And again. This time failure after failure met with something she always COULD do- the setup to a sonic rainboom. That white vortex barrier was always the thing that bounced her back. The idea was that during this part of her stunt she'd use that rubberband bouncing effect to propel her backwards, backlegs first, against a larger tree or other structure that she could then kick off of. Then Dash would, in theory, use that momentum to create a sonic rainboom almost exact the moment she kicked off. It was perfect. However she just wasn't feeling it today. She just couldn't build up the speed she needed to even get to the vortex barrier. A sign of a tired pony for sure. It was only mid day, maybe a nap would help her gather enough strength to try again later before the sun set or maybe she'd come up with an idea that would substitute for the vortex. Twilight was always telling her that inspiration and a good plan most often times met with success.

Normally Dash would settle on the nearest cloud to take a nap on. But today she needed to go to her cloud home to check the mail. Today would be the day "it" came, hopefully. Rainbow landed on a cloud so she could get her bearings. Normally she left her home floating just a cloud kick away from Twilight's library home; so that made Ponyville… "thata way!" she shouted as she spread her wings and kicked off. The ferocity of the kick completely poofed the cloud out of existence, "Oh well, we'll just make more," she giggled to herself. Being the Ponyville weather pegasus had its perks: no one really questioned you when you accidently destroyed a cloud.

This time she'd try and not get too excited. She'd been waiting a month of Sundays for her package to arrive. In actuality it was six weeks. But to a pony of Rainbow Dash's impatience it might as well have been a year ago. She could see her cloudhome in the distance. And yes, there it was: A small modest wrapped in plain brown paper package sitting on her stoop. "Thank you, mail ponies!" She shouted into the distance.

It seemed harmless enough on the outside: a durable paper bag exterior with a soft item contained within. The postmark bore "Phillydelphia" and "Rainbow Dash, 1 Cloud, Ponyville" on the label and "Caution: Fragile". No other identifying marks other than the return address.

She scooped up the box and dashed inside her house. She'd need a safe place to open this. She dare not let anyone see her with this. Not yet atleast. They'd all get a good look at her once she knew it'd hold up under extreme measures. Then she'd stun everypony for sure. But she didn't want anypony to see it just yet. She had to have her moments first. She rushed past her trophy case and almost fell over making the turn into her bedroom.

Dash laid the package out on her bed. Carefully she bit at the string that held the package together. Once it was removed she then tore open at the paper exterior careful not to hurt the contents. When she pulled away the paper wrapping with her teeth Dash could feel a paper come out with it. She placed the letter on the bed and began reading.

"Miss Rainbow Dash,

Thank you so very much for taking interest in my works. As per our conversation about your sizing…" BORING.

Dash skimmed ahead until she found what she was wanting to see, "enclosed is a custom made near likeness flight suit similar to what the Wonderbolts wear during their public performances. Using your measurements and custom color scheme I hope this will help you achieve your dreams. Dress for success!" The letter continued with how to care for, wash, and put on the suit.

"YES! YES YES YES YES!" Dash was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was so excited that she began to buck her back and forelegs; almost kicking a hole in the wall. Eagerly she slid out the suit onto the bed to see the final product. There it was in all of its glory: her very own Wonderbolts costume. Well; a Wonderbolts-like custom costume. Since nopony was actually allowed to infringe on the Wonderbolts costume style she'd have to settle for her own style. Sure it was a similar blue body. It had the golden zagged line just above the hoof. However Rainbow had hers with silver hoof booties, and a rainbow pattern down the belly. The suit had a distinctive Wonderbolts golden coloring in the piping of the suit around the corner holes for her wings, down the zipper line, and around the eye holes, ear holes, and mouth hole in the head piece. Anywhere there was a open seam or line in the body she had added a golden piping for a touch of pizzazz.

It was beautiful. Breath taking. Gorgeous. Wonderful. Every angle was impressive and every inch of it was beyond her expectations. Rainbow stretched out the costume to see it draped across her bed. Her hooves and eyes poured over every inch of the suit. She nuzzled the fabric. It felt like a cotton synthetic blend. It'd be as if she wasn't wearing anything in the sky when she was wearing it. She had paid top-bit for this suit and it was worth every bit. Dash closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the fresh fabric. The pony she had commissioned did her best to make it smell wonderful even. She couldn't quite place her hoof on the odor but it was somewhere between floral and industrial detergent.

Guilt settled in. She should have asked Rarity to make this. She'd been happy to give Rarity the business as she was one of her friends. However the nature of the suit and Rarity's tastes seemed to be two different things in Dash's mind. Sure it wasn't below Rarity to make something like this but she just didn't see herself comfortably walking in with a drawing, putting it on the table and saying "hey, Rarity, if you're not too busy making dresses and frilly stuff would you mind if I put in an order for a Wonderbolts costume?"

It was easier to send her order, measurements and bits to a complete stranger and have the package delivered low key. On the plus side she'd get some use out of the suit before people recognized the wearer as Rainbow Dash. She wouldn't have to deal with Twilight or Pinkie Pie bothering her about playing "dress up". She knew Rarity would have done her best to keep her work under wraps, but her friends had a habit of walking in unannounced and with her luck Rarity would have been working on it in plain sight.

Rainbow Dash finally pulled her head back up. There was no way she could take a nap now knowing she hadn't tried the suit on atleast. Dash grabbed at the zipper and pulled it open. The insides were as soft as velvet. She flopped the entire one piece costume down onto the cloud floor. It seemed as if it should be easy but how… she'd have to read the instructions.

"Okay… okay… hooves first, then body, then wings, then zip up, and then head," she flatly stated out loud to herself. There was even a little diagram for her to follow.

Rainbow Dash stepped into the limp fabric. An electric shiver ran up her legs and into her back has each hoof sank into a rubber lined shoe. It took a little bit of doing to get her hooves to settle into their sockets. She'd never worn a one piece anything before. The entire time she was putting the suit on it was a struggle getting the fabric to settle the right way. Dash was getting worried it may have been a size small. But she remembered that the Wonderbolts wore their flight suits tight- then so would she.

It was a chore raising the back end over her flank. No wonder they didn't do costume changes. These things are hard to get on. She slipped her tail through the hole so that it hanged lazily against the blue fabric. All Dash could do was imagine herself as a Wonderbolt suiting up for a big show. Spitfire and Soarin' would be talking about something Wonderboltish, "Yeah, no I know what you mean, Haha!" She'd answer.  
>Dash caught a glimpse of herself in her mirror. From the back end she looked exactly like a Wonderbolt. Her cutie mark was covered but the rainbow tail gave it away as she was Rainbow Dash: Future Wonderbolt! Sure the color scheme didn't quite match but she didn't care. The blue and gold would be her real reward and this would be a amusing story to tell somepony some day perhaps.<p>

Dash returned her attention to pulling on the rest of the outfit. Her wings had no problems sliding into place. She hiked the front end up covering her chest. She bit down on the zipper and pulled it tight. The entire costume fit exactly as she had imagined save for some tight spots. It felt odd as she could feel the suit move from every angle when she moved a foot or even took a breath. Again she looked to herself in the mirror. Dash had been hoping to have the full suit on before she spread her wings to pose but they couldn't be contained. "Fwap! Fwap!" Her mighty wings unfurled and raised high. Her body was almost that of her heros. She felt like a foal dressing up for make believe. She giggled uncontrollably when she took a step towards the mirror. The costume grabbed at her. However one thing was still not right, the front of her rainbow chest was covered by a loose bit of fabric. Her mask.

A Wonderbolt was nothing without their masks. Thats what protected their identites from ponys like Rainbow Dash. Not that she couldn't easily spot one of the Wonderbolts in public if she was looking. However it was assumed on Dash's part that the Wonderbolts didn't advertise they were a part of Equestria's most awesome aerial acrobatics flight team 24/7. So she'd do the same.

Dash leaned her head down and wiggled it into the sheath. The mane took some time to pull through the right way and her ears didn't line up exact on the first attempt but she got it on. It felt odd having her face covered like this but all of that bothersome feeling went away when she returned her gaze to her mirror. "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH! EEEE! I AM A WONDERBOLT!" She kicked and screamed, cutting flips in the air.

Dash finally calmed down enough to pose in front of the mirror. She tried a few action poses and then regular candid poses for herself. The filly couldn't help herself and dropped her voice low, "And now, for your Equestria Wonderbolts!" She said in deep voice, "Fillys and gentlecolts, please stomp your hooves for Spitfire! Soarin'! And your hometown filly, Rainbow Dash!" She again cut a flip in place. It was perfect!

She had to try flying in it. There was no way around it. She HAD to fly in it right now. But the last finishing touch: her goggles. The Wonderbolts never went anywhere without their goggles and neither would she! Luckily those goggles always ended up on the floor next to her frontdoor. She made a full gallop out of the bedroom. She slid her head into familiar elastic and placed the lenses over her eyes. Her heart swelled with energy. She took one last look at herself with the complete package.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I LOOK LIKE ONE OF THEM! THIS IS SO COOL ITS AWESOME COOL!"

Dash couldn't help herself now. She was drunk with her own fantasy. "FWAP!" rang out as she broke through her own door trying to get outside to fly.

"Now THIS is flying in style!"

Rainbow dash took to the skies of Equestria now without a care in the world. Just a quick cruise around the area and then she'd go home and take photos. Well, maybe a long cruise. Well maybe a few stunts...

More on the way soon.


	2. A Flight to Remember

Words could not express the thrill in Rainbow Dash's heart. When she looked down at her forelegs or backside all she saw was Rainbow Dash: Pre-Wonderbolt. Or Rainbow Dash: Wonderbolt-in-Training. Or The Mystery Bolt. The names and titles kept coming to her to justify the costume she was wearing. Deep down she knew she was still just: Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt fan. Twilight had her books and had written a few instructional guides. She referred to herself occasionally as an author. Pinkie Pie threw massive parties and occasionally referred to herself as a party planner. In fact the only two ponies she was close to had actual jobs where their titles fit them were Applejack and Rarity. This was her own way of having something to be proud of for when the time came to include them in on "her world."

The costume was slick. It grabbed her attention each time she passed a reflective surface just how awesome she looked. She kept trying to think of ways to improve the overall look for when she needed Rarity to mend it. She knew she'd have to take it to Rarity to mend it too if she was going to practice in it. "Maybe sunrise golden boots with new silver trimming? Or wait! What about adding a flame job to the hooves?" She thought back and forth about what improvements could be made. "It seems to ride up the flank when I stretch out the hindlegs and then relax. I wonder if Spitfire has the same problem. She's a filly on the team so sure it fits the same way. But how do you bring that up to a Wonderbolt? "Oh, gee, Spitfire, I was wondering if your flight suit rides up your flank when you perform. Is that natural cause mine sure does!" Rainbow said. "Oh yeah, it does that sometimes." She answered for Spitfire. "Just don't let the colts look too hard or they'll go blind! hahahahhaaahahaa!" Dash laughed to herself as Spitfire.

She noticed Soren giving her a wink. She winked back. He'd trot up, "Say, my fair beauty, would you care for a short flight through the clouds?" Rainbow giggled to herself, "Sure, onyermarkgetsetandgo!" And she'd race and beat Soren! He'd have to admit that it was cool and then he'd give her a kiss on the cheek. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

These musings continued to play back and forth for a long time in her mind. Many played back and forth with Spitfire and Soren gushing over their newest member and how awesome she was.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dash had flown just outside of the Everfree forest. Nopony really came to this part of Ponyville luckily. Now she could fly freely without anypony she knew could see her pretending to be a Wonderbolt. She had ordered the flight suit from Phillydelphia so that nopony could easily identify her if they did see her. When she shared this it would be only with her friends. Well, her friends at first until she knew if what she was doing was lame or cool. Then she'd show off in it. But for now it had to remain secret.

She wanted to take it slow at first. Figure out what kind of motions she could make. The costume itself was pretty solid but Dash didn't want to rip it open on the first day. Dash also knew that if she wasn't careful at first then she might snag a wing and ruin the suit when she crashed.

Although Dash knew she could fly in the suit she wanted to get a better idea of her full range of motion. The pegasus landed on a patch of green grass outside the Everfree forest treeline. It felt weird not being able to feel the ground under her hooves. It felt even weirder having a bouncy layer of rubber cradling her hooves. She tried walking on the ground first. She felt a slight bounce in her step with each trot. Surely that would cease as she walked more.

Next she tried running.

Then a full gallop.

Then a full gallop with wings spread. She just kept taking it to the next step stopping to rest only occasionally.

Then she tried just stretching in place to see how the suit would ride on her body in various positions. She tried squirming, sitting, standing, standing on two hooves both back and front. She did everything to stretch the suit out over her body to make sure it was fitting right. She didn't want to be midperformance and have it pop or rip a seam. That'd make her look silly. Again she tried to get a good look at herself. In the sunlight everything was much cooler than it was in her bedroom. Come to think of it she hadn't stopped to see how she looked in the sunlight really.

There was a nearby pond. The sun was starting to set but it still was bright enough to see just how she would look in Cloudsdale as a Wonderbolt proper. It seemed almost silly how carefully she looked into the mirrored pond surface. She slid her goggles up onto her forehead to get a better look at the masked face stareing back. In the sunlight the costume had taken on a quasi reflective sheen. It wasn't shiney but it certainly wasn't a flat blue. Dash's heart melted. Again she heard "FWAP FWAP!" of her wings going rigid. This time though they kept flapping on their own making the pony hover in place. A gentle breeze pushed the suspended pony over the lake. This was the first time too she'd see her underbelly. The rainbow was awesome! It blended into her mane and tail perfectly as if this was her natural coat. She couldn't believe how awfully smooth it was against the coat either. The costume held tight covering her like a second skin. Just like her heros the Wonderbolts. It was still a little pinchy in the stomach and in the flank.

Rainbow shook her head out of it. "Alright, Dashie, we know how cool we look. Very cool. Check." The mare nodded her head as if going down some mental list, "we know how it fits now. Let's give it another work out."

The sun had set but Rainbow Dash carried on with her tests. She was moving faster than ever now still with excited hop in her trot from wearing the costume. Or so she thought.

"Racing stripe do NOT make you go faster, Rainbow Dash." Rarity called from the back of the blue pony's mind. "Yes they do!"

\/\/\/\/

*Yaaaaawn* "Well, guess it's time to go home an' go see what I can find for dinner. Heh… Hopefully nothin' that stains, I kinda wanna wear this to bed now! No point in takin' it off if I'm gonna just get back into it tomorrow when I wake up. Just a few more passes an then I'll call it a night."

However a "few more passes" meant a few more hours of runs and flights and landings and take offs and looking cool.

Rainbow Dash was mighty proud of her self. She also knew tomorrow was going to be even better once she got a full nights rest.

"Nope… definitely not taking this off tonight," she mused to herself.

Maybe sleeping in her costume would make her dreams better. Not that they COULD get much better. She was always the Wonderbolts captain and did the best stunts ever in her dreams. Or sometimes she'd just fly forever. One time she, Spitfire, and Soren were flying. They didn't speak. They didn't falter. They didn't even race. They just stayed side by side...flying together.

Her hooves touched the ground one last time as she rested for a moment. The moon was high in the sky. "Yeesh, almost midnight? No way I stayed up this long! Wow!" Her stomach grumbled in neglect. It had been half a day since she last had food. had she really forgotten to eat all day because her flight suit came in the mail? Yes. Yes she had. Dash was living the dream and reality sort of got left behind because of it.

Rainbow rested on her hindquarters for a moment to take a breather. She'd need a few minutes of rest before she could gather enough strength for the prolonged flight back to her cloudhome. Her wings were beginning to ache. If they were hurting now then by the time she got home she'd be in trouble. She had spent so much time in the air trying not to get her suit dirty that she'd completely worn her wings out. Suddenly an idea out of nowhere struck Rainbow Dash: she was worried about getting her suit dirty. Had it been anything else it would have been almost destroyed by now. Was she scared to get a little dirty? No way! She was Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in Ponyville!

"ARUGH! HELP!" a voice cried out into the night. Rainbow tried to pick up where the voice was coming from. She lifted her goggles trying to see if she could see who it was crying for help.

In the distance there was a small dust cloud in the moon light. She could almost make out the silhouette of a pony in full gallop with something in pursuit. "Hang on! I'm on my way!" Dash lowered her goggles and hit the throttle. With every flap her wings hurt worse but that didn't matter. Somepony needed help and Rainbow Dash wasn't going to turn them down just because she was a little tired.

As she approached the figure she could begin to make out the thing chasing the pony. It wasn't too awful large but boy was it ugly! She could recognize the beast as a manticore. "HEY! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEPONY YOUR OWN SIZE!" Rainbow yelled at the beast before head butting the creatures side. She fell to the ground and so did the manticore. Her head ached from the impact. She looked back up to the other pony, "you okay?"

"Yes, Lookout!"  
>Rainbow looked up in time to see the manticore swing its poison tip tail at her. She was able to roll out of the way. "It that how you wanna play? Okay. I can play rough too!" Rainbow Dash knew how to handle this problem. She'd create a whirlwind and send the beast back into the Everfree forest where it belonged.<p>

"I'd make sure I was holding on to something if I was you!" she shouted at the innocent pony.

"A-alright!"

With no time to spare Rainbow spread her aching wings and started to fly in a very tight spiral over the manticore. She was forced to take more time than she wanted trying to dodge his swinging tail but eventually she built up enough speed to form a vortex around the monster. A bluish silvered vortex spun around the manticore and scooped him up. A swift hindleg kick to the side of the whirlwind sent it and the beast back into the forest.

The other pony was amazed at her savior. Whoever this was she showed no fear and had no problems with the beast. What was even more surprising was when she was able to finally get a good look at her heroine. The mare was in a blue suit from head to toe. In the moonlight her mane appeared to be different shades of white, grey, and black. She couldn't see her eyes as they were hidden behind a pair of goggles.

"Are you okay miss?" Rainbow stopped.

"Cheerilee. Yes. Thank you kindly miss…? I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, um," Rainbow recognized the mare as the school teacher. She did her best to disguise her voice, "I'm just glad you're okay. Okay. Bye!" Rainbow Dash took off as fast as her wings would let her. She hoped Cheerilee would be okay. The manticore wouldn't be out of her tornado for a while so the chances of it looking for another victim outside the forest were slim. She just needed rest.

By the time she got back to her cloudhome her wings were worn out. She had to glide the last eighty feet because of the pain. Once her hooves hit the cloud base she collapsed from exhaustion. The last thing she needed was fighting a manticore. But she did it! She did it! Her eyes drooped half way open from behind their lenses. "I did it!"

Wearily she stood back up. "I don't think I have enough strength to even take this getup off now." She took her time walking inside her house. She'd fix her door tomorrow morning. Her wings were in a lot of pain. That was true of any pegasus pony whom had overused their wings though. The more exercise you put into them the longer you could fly. But over exert yourself and they hurt worse than anypony would believe. Guess it was the excess of nerve endings and muscles and bone structure and what-all-else there was inside her wings. It went with being a pegasus.

Dash reached a hoof to her face and slipped the goggles off letting them land on the floor by the front door. *YAWN* Of all the ponies in Equestria that had to be running out of the Everfree forest in the dead of the night why did it have to be one of the ponies from her town? Atleast Cheerilee didn't recognize her.

She rubbed her hoof against her sore eyes trying to get them to see straight.

Dash slowly clopped her way into her bedroom where she collapsed on the bed. Her head didn't even make it all the way to the pillow before she started snoring out loud.

Dreams of Wonderbolts and rescuing ponies filled her head that night.

One thing was sure too- the flight suit was a comfortable pajama substitute for the pegasus.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

*Rewind*

Cheerilee on the other hand was frightened but taken aback. She was a well read pony. There were no such things as super ponies. The pony she encountered just was a very good pegasus pony. That's all. But heroine was a word that kept popping back into her mind. Once the fear of being chased out of the Everfree forest had vanished the school teacher was still flaberghasted at the odd incident that had saved her hooves.

And what kind of pony just sits there waiting for the cry for help? Again the word hero popped into her head.

And that costume? She looked like a super heroine. I've certainly see Snips and Snails reading those dreadful comic books in class once too often. She looked exactly like one of those comic book characters.

What about that mask and those goggles? Only heros hide their identities.

She works at night. Not normal hours to be keeping if your just out and about. Again the hero word came into play.

The entire sequence of events kept playing themselves over and over in her mind. She hadn't heard any of her students talk about this in class. It was all cutie marks and test scores and recess. Was there a new pony in town looking out for the ponyfolk? Zecora hadn't mentioned anything either other than "it would be best to stay the night. The manticore is looking for a bite."

What was even more confusing was the exit. She had assumed if there was indeed a new super pegasus pony watching over everypony then she would have atleast told Cheerilee her name. Again she tried to justify it. What that pony did any weather pegasus could achieve. It was nothing more than a pony-wearing a costume-waiting in the dead of night for a cry for help- and saved my life...

Cheerilee stopped in the middle of the road. "Do you know how CRAZY that sounds, filly? There isn't any super pony. There are ponys that are super pains but there are no super ponys!"

After a long walk back to her home Cheerilee was happy to be back. She wanted to sit down and write a story for the EquestriaDaily paper about her dramatic rescue. The presses had long since gone to print and turning in a story at 2 am would be lunacy. Tomorrow she'd write something to submit to the editor.

Many questions weighed in on the teacher this night. But one thing was for sure. She was glad that a fantastic filly had saved her life. For that she would be forever grateful.


	3. The Rumor Machine

The morning sun lightly swept at Twilight Sparkles face. She opened one eye to look at her curtains. "Another beautiful morning in Ponyville," she said softly bringing the covers over her head to shield her eyes.

Her exposed ears twitched. "Spike?"

The sounds of her dragon assistant were absent this morning. "Perhaps he's gone to get a head start on the chores." Normally he'd still be snoring away at this hour on a weekend morning. This was curious. It was a weekend morning. He didn't have any duties on a weekend morning. It was her turn to do the morning chores. It was part of their trade off in roles. She raised her head from her soft pillow to see if the dragon was standing at the foot of her bed waiting for his weekend Danish rolls with ruby glaze icing. No. The reptile tike was missing in action. His bed empty, the bedroom door closed, and there were no sounds of him moving around downstairs.

With no answer she had hoped maybe the dragon had run off to do something. Something-anything that would enable her to sleep longer. Last night had been particularly tiresome as she had reorganized an entire section of the library based on types of magic beginning with easy and ending with difficult, and book spine color. It was frivolous and chances were that she'd come to dislike it in a day's time and go back to alphabetizing the section as it once was.

That's where Spike was! She had discovered his stash of comic books hidden on a shelf she rarely peeked at. He was a clever little thing. Where the natural wood shelves created blind spots the dragon had learned to hide his treasures there. He was still a baby dragon but signs of his maturity were beginning to show. There was a diamond Rarity had given him that he left near his comic books on a bookshelf. He never snacked on it once. There it rested as if a paperweight or some decoration. Twilight knew this was his first experiment with his dragons hoard. He was kind enough to keep it off the floor. So, she was kind enough to let him have his "hoard". His hoard stood at one diamond, a myriad of comic books that he kept organized, and a picture of Rarity. Some hoard. Twilight recalled the dragon they had faced months before that managed to have an entire trove of treasures that rivaled any wealth she could ever dream of. It had crossed her mind that Spike was a little nerdy for a dragon to have only those items in his clutch but he was still just a baby dragon.

Her curtains drew themselves back at her minds flex. Lazily the purple pony rolled out of bed and went to the dresser. Her horn glowed as the bed remade itself and a hair brush straightened her mane. Drawing back the curtains to let in the morning sun Twilight gave a quick inspection to her bed chamber. Her attention then turned to opening the door and calling out, "Spike, I know you're hiding those comics again. I told you a thousand times, Rarity is interested in _ponies_ that read _books_ not _dragons_ that read _comics._ Besides you keep that diamond right next to them. Why don't we just go down to the shops and get you your own little shelf for your collection… Spike?" Twilight peered down into the library. No Spike.

The pony still had sleep in her eyes but the oddity of Spike missing on a weekend morning was concerning. He always ALWAYS waited, patiently, for his weekend treat. It was unlike him to simply run off. She looked at his desk seeing if there was a note. Nothing.

She searched high and low. His comic books were stacked neatly where she had left them the night before with their diamond companion sitting in front as if it were guarding them. There was no sign that the dragon even did anything to disturb the room. Well, there was one comic book lay out as if Spike had been reading it but got up to go do something. She could even see the impression of his elbows and knees in the rug where he had been reading.

She checked the kitchen to see if the dragon had made his own breakfast this morning. Perhaps he was letting her sleep in out of some act of kindness. No pans were dirty, the oven was off, and there were no dirty dishes in the sink. Not even the few gems she kept for the dragon as treats were touched.

Twilight went about her business as per usual and began making Spike his breakfast. Even if he had eaten in town she doubted that he'd turn down ruby rolls. Today he'd have to settle for canned rolls, not fresh made. Not that it was difficult when using her magical abilities; it was just time consuming. She'd make it up next weekend to him.

"Where the hay did he run off to?"

\/\/\/

There was a buzz in Ponyville this morning that Spike was riding the crest of. Cheerilee had rushed over to Sugarcube Corner that morning and it didn't take long for the rumor of a superpony to reach the young dragon.

Cheerilee was embarrassed to have drawn such attention from all the ponies in town that morning. Spike hanged on every word she said.

"The filly just told me to hang on to something, anything I could grasp at. She created a tornado that sucked the beast off the ground and bucked it back into the Everfree forest!"

"Woooooooooooow. That's so cool!" Spike looked lazily at Cheerilee, "And then what happened!"

"Well she came up to me, asked if I was okay."

"What did she look like? Did she have a cape?"

"Well, it was hard to see, Spike. I don't think she had a cape. It was dark and you know how colors get kind of blurry in the dark. I think she was blue with a black and white mane. I couldn't see her face because she was definitely wearing a mask with some sort of goggles."

A voice called out from the back. "You just described the Wonderbolts you foal! Let's go. She doesn't know what she's talking about," laughed a golden pegasus.

"What I saw was no stunt performer! You believe me don't you, Spike?" It wasn't as if Cheerilee needed validation but being told she was being foolish hurt.

"Yeah!" The little dragon jumped up, "of course I do. What happened next?"

"She flew away."

At that moment another pony stepped up. "I had something like that happen to me!" By the end of it four ponies total had said something about a blue costumed mare saving their lives. All of their stories were different though. One pony said she was a unicorn and wore a cape. Another pony said that it wasn't a mare but a stallion pegasus. The other said that stallion was white and not blue. The only one Spike could believe was Cheerilee. She was able to tell her story several times in a row without getting any of her facts mixed up. And of course Cheerilee's story had all the things needed to sound plausible. A damsel in distress with a Everfree monster chasing her- a daring rescue- and a happy conclusion.

This, of course, only fueled the young dragon's imagination. It drove him immediately to purchase more comic books at the town news stand and return home for his morning breakfast.

Spike was choosy this time in picking his comics to include only hero comics as he would be spending the day daydreaming of himself assuming a role as a super dragon and rescuing a certain white mare from the dangers of whatever it was that would be dangerous to her. "Perhaps something that stains silk easily! No…wait… lame."

\/\/\/\/

Applejack could hardly believe her ears at the ponyfolk gossiping on about a super pony. "They plain just plum don't exist. A super pony? Aw heck Rainbow Dash could'a done that and done it twice as fast an' ten times better than that silly mare you're a' talkin' 'bout, Cheerilee."

The orange pony didn't give much thought to the school teacher telling her story for long and went back about her business.

/\/\/\/

Rainbow Dash was the last pony in Ponyville out of bed. She couldn't even move her wings she hurt so much. Her legs were sore, her hooves felt funny, she felt physically a little cold. Wearily she stood up from her bed. "Guess today I'll…" her voice trailed as she looked at herself in the mirror. A blue suited pony stared back. "Oh yeah. Forgot about this. Heh heh." She tried to pose for her own amusement but found moving her wings from her sides an impossible feat this morning. Slowly she peeled away the mask allowing her face to be freed. The mask hanged limply at her chest.

Rainbow slowly clopped over to the curtains to allow light into her bed room. She lay down on the bed on her stomach and slowly exercised her wings so that she could finish removing the costume. The sounds of her wings gently raising and lowering were all she concentrated on. She remembered Cheerilee from the night before. Hopefully she had gotten away without being identified. It would crush her to think if some pony she knew would catch her playing dressup in such a way and then ridicule her for it. However she did feel a certain swell of pride knowing she had saved Cheerilee from certain doom.

Once satisfied that she could move her wings enough Dash unzipped the costume and let it fall to the floor. As she stepped out she felt a twinge of guilt for taking it off. It was the closest she had ever come to being one of her heros. She folded the fabric and placed it in a box and hid it away in her closet. It was almost ritualistic the way she had folded everything. She'd never taken that much care of clothing in her entire life. But when it was out of sight she breathed a sigh of relief, "Aw dang. I didn't even take a picture of me in it."

Slowly she trotted into the living room and gazed at her trophy case. Inside were various accomplishments she had earned. The crown from the best young fliers' competition sat on a neatly dusted glass shelf. There was a custom made mannequin neck for her bejeweled necklace given to her for freeing Princess Luna. Certificates and photographs from her various competitions and titles were framed and hanged or propped up on the back wall of the display case. Mixed in with her accolades were clippings and photographs of her heros, the Wonderbolts. She even had a signed poster from one of the first shows she ever saw. She even had the action figures. One set of figures was still mint on card, a few of the variant figures mint on card (those are the ones without the goggles on the figure), and one full set was open and out for display. She looked long and hard at the action figures wondering what hers would look like if she repainted one of the opened ones. However her hooves weren't that good and intricate detail work wasn't really her thing.

A gentle breeze flew through the air of her living room. Her front door was still missing. She'd have to make a new one. Dash began a check list in her head: first she'd get some anti-inflammatory pain medication, then fix the door, then breakfast, then she'd go on down to Twilight Sparkles library and see what she was up to. If she had time she would ask around to make sure Cheerilee was okay.

Normally Dash felt as if she should be more, well, Rainbow Dash about this but something told her to keep this event low profile.

Rainbow went about her morning as normal. She took her anti-inflammatory medication, then had breakfast and then molded a new cloud door for her home. All in all it was a productive morning for Rainbow Dash. Luckily the weather schedule from Cloudsdale didn't call for her to move any clouds or make it rain anywhere. She had a free day today.

Rainbow walked to the edge of her cloudhome and looked down to see the ponies of Ponyville going about their daily routine. She couldn't help be feel light hearted today after her little escapade from yesterday. She dipped her hoof into the rainbow fountain and then bucked her leg causing the rainbow juice to flow off into a familiar ribbon across the sky. The sound of applause and gasping from below was pleasant to her ears.

"Thank you… Thank you… I'm here all week! You're all so kind!" She took a modest bow.

Gently Rainbow Dash spread her wings and gave them one more test flap. The pain had subsided but she still couldn't flap her wings comfortably. "Alright… I'll take it easy, girls. Yeesh" she muttered at her hindquarter. Holding the blue flaps steady she somersaulted off the cloud and glided down to the ground.

/\/\/\/\

Spike had returned with his new treasures in tow. "I'm ho-ome!"

"Oh, there you are, Spike!" A happy purple pony shouted from the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry!"

The purple dragon waddled over to the breakfast table in their quaint little kitchen, "sure am! I've been lookin' forward to this all day!" His eyes narrowed, "what time did you roll out of bed by the way?"

Twilight placed the pan of hot rolls in front of the dragon, "now now, I don't need guff from you for being lazy once in a while." She trotted back to the stove, "besides, it's not like you were waiting for them." She levitated a powdered red spread towards the dragon. "now bon appétit." Something caught Twilight's eye, "oh, not more comic books, Spike. These are going to rot your mind eventually."

"Oh yeah?" He pointed a claw dripping with ruby red sauce at the pony, "this is study material now, Twilight." Spike took his claw and dripped it across a danish before greedily gobbling it down.

"Oh Spike," Twilight levitated a napkin towards the dragon. "Juice?"

"Oh, please. Mmm. N-no! I mean, this IS study material! We've got a super pony in town!" A glass of juice gently set itself down infront of the reptile.

"A what?" She looked stunned. "What's a super pony?" Twilight finished preparing her Danish roll with apple spread and water tray and brought it to the table.

Spike smiled a toothy grin. "This!" He slid a comic book towards the pony. The cover bore a picture of a stallion with large muscles punching a large hay stack. "Superior Steed and the evil hay seed? You've got to be joking. This is fiction Spike!

"No! This is serious! Just go ask Cheerilee. We got… what did she call it? We've got the Fantastic Filly!"

Twilight sat down at her place at the table. "Oh, so just what did this Fantastic Filly do?"

"Well," Spike swallowed down another roll, "Last night Cheerilee was at Zecora's place in the Everfree Forest. While she was walking down the path a large manticore started chasing her. She was a goner but a super pony saved her!" He had a sparkle in his eye as if lost in a fantasy world.

Twilight clapped her hoof on the table, "Yo. Come back to me Spike. So what did this pony do that was sooo fantastic?"

"Well, the Fantastic Filly flew in sayin' "I'll save you!" and then beat up the manticore and created a huge tornado that sent it back into the woods!"

"Uh, Spike. Not to rain on your parade but the pony flew in and created a tornado? Do you know how many ponies we BOTH know that could do that?"

"uuuuuh. Hmmm." Spike seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Ooooooh. Pegasus ponies do that kind of stuff all the time, huh?"

"Yes, Spike. All the time." Twilight bent down to take a nibble from her roll.

The dragon nodded, "But I didn't tell you the super part."

"Tell me about the _super_ part, Spike." Twilight deadpanned.

"Fantastic Filly wears a costume! Just like the Superior Steed!" He grinned again. "I'm tellin' ya Twilight, super ponies are real."


	4. Things get out of hand

The glide into Ponyville wasn't as painful as it would have been if Dash hadn't pushed herself to beyond her physical limit the previous day. What do you expect though when a pegasus has worn out her primary mode of transportation? If they didn't stop hurting soon she'd have to spend the night with one of her friends at their place. Each movement and adjustment she made to her wing position made her cringe in pain.

"Watch out! Hot pony comin' through!" She shouted to a group of ponies below her. The ponies were surprised to see her gliding in but had come to expect her familiar spontaneous landing maneuvers.

A dirt cloud was kicked up as hooves skidded to a halt; Dash's rigid wings relax against her sides. It seemed like business as usual until a group at the Cake's bakery caught her eye. Rainbow Dash was curious to see ponies gathered around Cheerilee that morning. She knew why though, but that didn't stop her curiosity from approaching the teacher. "What's goin' on."

A pony next to Dash looked to her, "Cheerilee got saved last night by a super pony."

"A super pony?" That's all Dash needed to get the wheels turning in the back of her mind on something completely totally and utterly spectacular. She tried her best not to look happy. "Me?" She thought "I was a super pony? I know the suit looks… woooooooooooow!"

Dash shook her head quickly and tried to look surprised. "A super pony you say. Hmm…" Dash backed away from the crowd and took in to full gallop toward Twilight Sparkle's place. "If anypony can help me do this then it's Twilight Sparkle! She'll know what to do!"

\/\/\/\/

Rainbow Dash burst through the treehome door. "Twilight! Where are you Twilight Sparkle!" called out the rainbow haired filly. From behind a stack of book she could see her friends horn moving slightly, "You don't have to yell you know. I'm right here," Twilight's head popped out from behind her hiding place, "what can I do you for today, Rainbow Dash?"

"Well, it's about this super pony."

Twilight planted her face into her hooves. "Oh not you too! This entire town is going crazy over a pony! Not a super pony! Just a pony!"

Rainbow looked around, "are we alone Twilight?"

"I think so," she peered around, "Spike left after breakfast to do some shopping. Is everything okay?"

"Uh. Yeah. Uh… about this super pony."

Twilight nodded, "I heard about her, 20 feet tall with a forty foot wingspan. She breathes fire."

Dash's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Twilight nodded, "I know, what a bunch of hooey!"

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I guess so." She sounded depressed suddenly.

Twilight had a sudden suspicion about Rainbow Dash. Dash was not good at hiding her feelings when she was excited much less depressed.

Rainbow Dash had turned around to walk out when Twilight stood up. "You know something about that rescue don't you Rainbow Dash?"

"I'm her." Rainbow blurted it out.

"What? That's not funny!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I can barely move my wings today! Twilight I'm tellin' the truth! I'm the super pony!"

Twilight looked skeptical. "Dash, you're not what they described at all."

"Oh really? Well here are the facts, Twilight Sparkle. Was the story you heard about a girl who rescued Cheerilee last night around midnight wearing a blue and grey Wonderbolts costume? Hmm? What about defeating a manticore, by creating a small tornado? I was there cause I was that pony!"

"Oh dear. Dash don't tell me you're doing dangerous stuff like that now!"

"Yes! I mean no! I mean… Okay… you know I'm a HUGE Wonderbolts fan."

Twilight frowned, "I don't think a day goes by you don't try and prove it some way."

Rainbow sat down on her hind quarters next to the purple pony. "I ordered a Wonderbolts costume."

"That's not weird at all." Twilight tried not to sound sarcastic. She knew Dash would do it eventually. It seemed like a natural progression for her.

"Really? You think so?" Rainbow looked relieved, "I got it just for me! Cause I'm gonna totally be a Wonderbolt some day!"

Twilight twirled her hoof, "come on, Dash. Keep your story goin'."

"Oh, okay. So I was out wearing it and Cheerilee came out and now they think I'm a super pony!" Dash kept increasing the speed and pitch of her voice to where she was almost a squeal by the end of her sentence.

"Dash. You're not thinking what I think your thinking, are you?"

"Totally."

Twilight stomped her hoof down, "NO DASH! First off you should go tell Cheerilee it was you that rescued her and not let her spread gossip that there's a supernatural pony watching over us. Second of all, knowing you, you could get yourself killed!"

"Naaaah! Do you know how many times I've fallen out of a cloud and landed without a scratch? What danger is there that could hurt me?"

Twilight almost choked, "Rainbow Dash! You need to go tell her it was you so we can put an end to these rumors!"

"Alright alright. Yeesh. I'll tell her," Rainbow said flatly. Her fuchsia eyes, however, said differently.

Twilight stomped her hoof, "Dash! Tell her!"

"Look, I'll tell her alright!"

/\/\/\/\  
>That was nearly a week ago.<p>

Every night Rainbow Dash would put on her costume and fly around Ponyville looking for injustice and ponies to save. The rumors continued to build that there was indeed a super pegasus keeping a vigilant eye over this part of Equestria. The novelty of everything was beginning to wear off too. Dash was finding it boring flying all night and having no bad guys to fight, no monsters ventured outside of the Everfree forest, even Granny Smith was able to cross the street by herself.

Dash decided to give it up but she'd go out on one last patrol before resuming her flight practices and coming clean with her alter ego. She'd go and confess to Cheerilee tomorrow and just tell it that it slipped her mind and that this was just her way of being a Wonderbolt. Twilight kept on pestering her about it but she didn't tell their other friends.

Maybe it was a good thing too that this little charade was coming to an end. The only "big case" she had found was Angel bunny had snuck into Applejack's orchard. A case was a case so she jumped on it immediately. However Angel bunny proved to be too quick for her and she gave up when the sun began to rise.

Rainbow Dash had such hopes as she put on the costume as a crime fighter one last time. Everything was still as snug and pristine as it had been a week ago when it arrived.

She slipped her hooves into their booties, her tail and mane into their holes and lined up the mask perfectly on the first shot. She was getting good at putting this thing on.

With her goggles covering her eyes she stepped through her door one last time as Rainbow Dash: Defender of Ponyville. When she came home she'd go back to being Rainbow Dash: Wonderbolt-Fangirl.

She spread her wings and took off from her cloudhome. "Beware those who would do wrong for tonight you have this filly to deal with," Dash said without enthusiasm.

She circled the skies of ponyville for an hour before getting completely discouraged. "Alright! You win! I'm bored!"

Dash landed on a cloud and pulled her goggles from her eyes. She peered up at the moon and pulled her mask away from her face. She was heartbroken in a way, but also relieved. Yeah. It was kinda stupid to put on this charade for so long. Now all of Ponyville would think she was crazy when her secret finally got out. Maybe she could convince Cheerilee to keep it between them. She hoped that this entire costumed super pony thing would go away quickly. She wanted to just get back to business and start training again for the Wonderbolts.

Then a pair of screams billowed out into the night. Her ears flopped towards the echo. "You gotta be kidding me! Really? Just AS I give it up!" Dash spread her wings and took to the sky leaving her mask to flop wildly at her chest. She pulled it up over her face midair and began to search for the shrieking victims. It was coming from the edge of the Everfree forest, again.

Dash scanned the roads and saw the figures of a familiar pegasus pony and three fillies running from the edge of the tree line followed by a much larger manticore. "Not again!" She rolled into a dive to intercept the monster and hopefully save the four ponies running scared.

Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were all in high gear as the mammoth beast chased after them. "Girls! Don't worry about me, just keep running," huffed Fluttershy. She'd have to face the monster alone to keep the fillies safe. The yellow pegasus stopped mid stride and turned to face the manticore chasing them. Her knees buckled in sheer fright. "Eep!"

A blue suited mare landed between Fluttershy and the monster without warning. "RUN! RUN AND KEEP GOING!" yelled the heroine. Dash didn't turn to look hoping that Fluttershy wouldn't recognize her voice or mane.

"R-Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked when she recognized the gruff voice of the mare infront of her. "Is that y-you?"

Dash turned, "YEAH! GET THOSE FILLIES OUT OF HERE!" Dash looked back in time to see the poison tip tail of the manticore swing at her. She tried to jump out of the way but got struck in the leg. It was a powerful blow that caused her to fall. She rolled a few yards coming to a stop. Dash scrambled to her hooves. "Wanna play rough? Okay. I can play rough!"

Using her speed and agility Rainbow Dash tried to recreate a tornado to wipe out the beast. However this manticore was much larger than the other and a better shot. As Dash circled in a tight spiral the monster sent her tail directly into Rainbows back. "ARUGH!" she cried out. Her body went limp and she rolled into the dirt. The manticore roared in delight.

By now Fluttershy had stopped to make sure the girls were safe. But she could tell something was wrong when she saw Rainbow Dash crash into the dirt and stop moving. Fluttershy felt her heart leap into her throat. "No! Rainbow Dash!" She turned to the girls, "Stay here!"

All three cutie mark crusaders nodded and huddled together. "We're scared, Fluttershy." Called out Sweetie Belle."

Fluttershy smiled, "Me too. But we have to help Rainbow Dash." She turned to run back to the fight when Scootaloo called out, "Save her!"

Fluttershy was in full gallop when she saw the manticore pick up Rainbow Dash with its claw. "Put her down!" She was terrified.

Fluttershy had no idea how to fight this beast. Whatever it was that had made him angry she couldn't figure out a way to calm him down. Without warning the manticore threw Rainbow Dash across the clearing into a tree and turned around to face a new challenger. Zecora had arrived.

"Get her out of here with all of your might! This beast isn't going to take me without a fight!"

The zebra pony reached up and bit the monster on his tail and immediately retreated into the cover of the Everfree forest. "He won't turn me into mash, get help for your friend Rainbow Dash!" shouted the mare before disappearing with the monster chasing her. They disappeared soon into a cover of darkness. There was a large blinding flash from deep inside the woods. All sounds came to an abrupt halt from inside the Everfree forest. It was unknown what happened but Fluttershy would have to worry about it later.

Fluttershy had to take a moment to unlock her legs from her gripping fear. But the memory of Rainbow Dash being thrown into a tree helped her lose the feeling. The pegasus took to the air to search for her friend. "Why is she wearing a costume?" She wondered.

It didn't take but a moment to find Rainbow in the tall grass. The picture was gruesome. She had received three stings from the scorpions tail in total and one of her wings was broken. The bone was through the skin. Fluttershy began to cry. "Rainbow? Rainbow Dash? Answer me!" pleaded the pegasus. Where were rips and tears in the costume Rainbow Dash wore she could see scrapes in the skin. Fluttershy bit down at a loose piece of fabric covering her face and tore it away. "There, that'll help you breathe easier, Rainbow."

The yellow pegasus bent down and listened to her chest. She still had a heart beat. But the manticore poison was coursing through her veins. And if she didn't get help soon the poison might take her or worse: her wings… it was best not to think of that right now.

"Dash, I'm going to have to move you." She could see tears welling up in her friends closed eyes. A pegasus has twice the amount of nerve endings in their wings and with a broken wing the pain must have been excruciating. "Dash, say something if you understand me."

There was no answer other than a slight moan. Fluttershy carefully slid her friend onto her back. She'd have to walk her to the hospital. Flying would be too risky. Dash was crying in pain and whimpering the entire walk back up to retrieve the three school ponies. She felt wet tears bead against her coat. There was also a hot liquid dripping down her side from where one of the poison stings had hit.

"Alright Rainbow Dash, we're gonna take this one step at a time," she reassured her friend. Unconscious or not she still felt an obligation to tell her comrade what was happening. Slowly she put one hoof in front of the other and began the journey back to Ponyville.

Scootaloo came running down the road when Fluttershy came into sight. She was crying hard by the time she reached Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Is she gonna be alright!" Scootaloo looked up and saw the broken wing lazily swinging with each step. "Is she gonna fly? Please say she's gonna fly again! This is all my fault! Don't die Rainbow Dash!" the orange filly pleaded. "Please Fluttershy, say she's going to be okay!"

"I don't know. Now let's give her some air, Scootaloo. We've got to get her to the doctors right away." Even Fluttershy couldn't hide the fear in her voice. But she continued on with the three fillies following her checking on Rainbow Dash every step of the way.

Every ten steps or so one of the fillies would ask something. "Why is shy crying?" Asked Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo knew the answer, "Cause of our wings. Pegasus ponies are much more sensitive in our wings. If something bad happens to one of 'em then it hurts alot worse. An' see, she's got a broken wing."

"Why is it turning black?" asked Applebloom.

"Black?" Fluttershy turned to look at the break. The white bone was beginning to turn black from being exposed to the air. "Oh no. Girls, you gotta keep up now." Fluttershy sounded panicked. She started to run.


End file.
